And I will feed, &c.— In Ezekiel 37:16-17 the prophet writes the names of the tribes upon two sticks, which, joined together, aptly express the union of all the tribes. But here the prophet takes the shepherd's crook, or staff, to shew the office and power of the Messiah; the Logos, or Word; for, to feed is to govern. In one hand he holds the staff, which he calls Beauty, to express the delight which the Lord has in governing his people, while they do what is pleasing in his sight, and strictly observe their part of the covenant subsisting between him and them. The other staff is properly called Binders, to express the union of Israel and Judah. See Dr. Sharpe as above. Bishop Chandler observes, that the prophets frequently employ metaphorical words, with intent, not to signify the thing which is obvious in the first sense of the words, but what is to be collected from another etymology or derivation thereof. Sometimes a double reference to different persons is included in the same word; again, the letters of a word are transposed to form a word that has no affinity in etymology or sense with the former. Thus our prophet calls one of his shepherd's staves נעם noam, or delight, so signify the pleasure which God had in his people, and the delight which the people took in God's worship. He calls his other staff חבלים chobelim, bands, in token that the people were become chobelim, corrupters of God's law,—and their souls did mutually בחלה bachalah, abhor each other. See his Defence, p. 226.
Two staves— A staff, or crook, is the proper ensign of a shepherd. The shepherds of old time had two rods or staves: one turned round at the top, that it might not hurt the sheep; this was for counting them, and separating the sound from the diseased (see Leviticus 27:32.); the other had an iron hook at the end of it, to pull in the stray sheep, and hold them fast while the shepherd corrected them. The Psalmist mentions both there, Psalms 23:4. Thy rod and thy staff they comfort me. See Lowth.